Texas sends busload of 42 migrants to Los Angeles
LA Times, MELISSA GOMEZ, CHRISTIAN MARTINEZ, JULIA WICK, JACK HERRERA: "A busload of migrants sent by the state of Texas arrived in Los Angeles on Wednesday afternoon. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced the action on social media, saying the transportation of migrants to L.A. was “much-needed relief” for the border.
The group of 42 people, including eight children, arrived after a 23-hour bus ride without food, according to Jorge-Mario Cabrera, director of communications for immigrant rights group CHIRLA."
California budget 2023: Key dates toward a deal
CALMatters, SAMEEA KAMAL: "California’s state budget is the product of a multi-month, multi-step process that involves the governor, the Legislature, lobbyists, interest groups and the public — with lots of debate, number-crunching and negotiation along the way.
This year, those deliberations are especially strained because the state is facing a budget deficit of at least $31.5 billion, a whiplash following two years of record budget surpluses."
Lawmakers set to pass budget to keep getting paid — but there’s still no deal with Newsom
The Chronicle, SOPHIA BOLLAG: "Lawmakers on Thursday plan to pass a budget bill that ensures they continue to get paid while negotiations with Gov. Gavin Newsom over transit funding, child care spending and police misconduct records spill over past the deadline.
Budget negotiations continuing after the state Constitution’s June 15 deadline has become routine in recent years. Although lawmakers must pass a budget bill by the deadline or face pay suspensions, Newsom has a couple more weeks before he needs to sign a budget into law before the state’s fiscal year starts July 1. That gives lawmakers and Newsom more time to hammer out a final agreement."
The Onslaught of Anti-Trans Legislation Demands a Crisis Response From Philanthropy
The Chronicle of Philanthropy, SAIDA AGOSTINI-BOSTIC, ELIZABETH BARAJAS-ROMAN: "Since the start of 2023 state legislative sessions, more than 520 anti-LGBTQ+ bills have been proposed across the country, with more than 220 of those specifically targeting transgender and gender-nonconforming youth. So far, more than 70 of these bills have become law in at least 18 states, leading the Human Rights Campaign last week to issue its first-ever state of emergency for LGBTQ+ people in the United States.
This all-out assault on trans people should concern anyone in philanthropy who cares about liberty and justice. Unfortunately, this emergency situation is not receiving the emergency philanthropic response it deserves."
California flooding harmed 4 out of 5 households in this city. A study tallies the damage
CALMatters, NICOLE FOY: "How do you put a price tag on a disaster?
Researchers at the University of California, Merced attempted to do just that for a small farmworker town in the northern San Joaquin Valley still struggling with the economic fallout of historic flooding."
California lets Allstate hike rates — but insurer still won’t write new home policies
BANG*Mercury News, JOHN WOOLFOLK: "Allstate has received California’s blessing to raise homeowner insurance premiums 4% — and has filed for another rate hike of nearly 40% — but the state’s fifth-largest home insurer said it has no plans to reverse its decision last fall to stop writing new policies.
That will mean higher bills for Allstate’s existing customers and no relief for other homeowners in the Golden State who are losing their coverage in areas ravaged by recent destructive wildfires, floods and landslides. For homeowners desperately seeking new policies, the news isn’t good: State Farm, California’s largest home insurer, said in late May it also would stop writing new policies, igniting fears of an insurance market collapse."
State Farm’s California freeze: Looming insurance apocalypse or political ploy?
LA Times, SAM DEAN: "When State Farm announced in May that the company would stop writing new homeowners insurance policies in California, it issued a two-paragraph statement by way of explanation.
It listed “historic increases in construction costs,” “rapidly growing catastrophe exposure, and a challenging reinsurance market” as the culprits, adding that it needed to take this action to “improve the company’s financial strength.”"
Four things California can do as home insurers retreat
CALMatters, GRACE GEDYE: "After State Farm declared in late May that it wouldn’t sell any new home insurance policies in California, people shopping around for new insurance had one fewer option. When days later it was revealed that Allstate had quietly made the same decision last year, Californians are now left wondering: How bad is this? And how should the state respond?
The “crisis” in California’s insurance market was caused by “a laser focus only on affordability,” said Nancy Watkins, a principal at Milliman, an actuarial firm, at a legislative hearing on Wednesday. The companies are operating with “very crude tools” at the expense of availability and reliability, she said."
State investigators found lapses that could threaten patients at Inglewood hospital
LA Times, EMILY ALPERT REYES, MARISSA EVANS: "An Inglewood hospital violated federal requirements in ways that could jeopardize patients, including by failing to properly assess and treat birthing patients to reduce the risk of blood clots, a state review found.
Centinela Hospital Medical Center repeatedly failed to take steps to prevent patients from suffering potentially deadly clots, which can include using compression devices that improve blood flow in the legs, investigators from the California Department of Public Health found after a February visit."
‘Game changer’: 5 long COVID treatments researchers are most excited about
The Chronicle, GABE CASTRO-ROOT: "Three-plus years after the start of the pandemic, COVID may finally be starting to feel like a distant memory for many people.
But for those suffering from long COVID, each day is a reminder that the effects of the disease can linger long after it’s gone."
Big temperature differences expected between Bay Area microclimates. Here’s why
The Chronicle, GERRY DIAZ: "The area of high pressure that kicked off comfortable weather for inland residents this week will continue to ramp up temperatures by another 3 to 5 degrees on Thursday and Friday. But a few lurking weather elements might buck the trend for coastal residents.
Warm, dry air is forecast to start off at about 5,000 or so feet above the Bay Area on Thursday, having little effect on the ground in the morning. The European weather model forecasts that the air temperature at that elevation will be around 64 degrees. That may not sound like much, but it’s about 3 to 6 degrees warmer than the past couple of weeks."
Pell Grant eligibility for students in prisons to be reinstated in July
EdSource, BETTY MARQUEZ ROSALES: "For the first time in nearly three decades, people incarcerated nationwide will have expanded access to the federal Pell Grant on July 1 to help pay for the cost of college education programs.
“From a purely symbolic perspective, it’s incredibly powerful… that we are trying to find ways to give them the resources to succeed,” said Keramet Reiter, director of the first University of California Bachelor’s program for students in prisons."
‘Everybody assumes that it’s like the rest of California and it’s not’: Rural LGBTQ students and administrators describe campus strife.
CALMatters, ADAM ECHELMAN: "In rural Siskiyou County, where California meets Oregon, the local community college is hiding its LGBTQ+ center behind closed doors. Queer students are scared for their safety.
“We are a very conservative county, and we have many students that are out at school but not at home,” said Ty Speck, who goes by “Mama Ty” among students and serves as the advisor to the LGBTQ+ club at the College of the Siskiyous. Instead, she said, the three students in the group wanted to meet in a rotating set of undisclosed locations."
‘Pretty staggering’: Thousands of California police officers could be stripped of their badges under new law
The Chronicle, SOPHIA BOLLAG: "California’s police standards commission is bracing to decertify or suspend 3,000 to 3,500 police officers each year for serious misconduct under a new state law, according to estimates from the commission.
The estimates suggest the police officers engaging in serious misconduct in any given year could represent a significant percentage of the roughly 90,000 officers working in California, although some may already be fired or retired by the time the commission moves to strip them of their certification."
CHP drug crackdown: Arrests increase, but are state police using tactic S.F. is trying to limit?
The Chronicle, MALLORY MOENCH, SUSIE NEILSON, KEVIN FAGAN: "California Highway Patrol Sgt. Ryan Burns was leaving a routine drunk-driving bust on Polk Street Monday when a beat-up Chevy Camaro two blocks away started racing through the Tenderloin.
One of Burns’ motorcycle officers had tried to pull the driver over for a flat rear tire and heavily tinted windows, and instead of stopping, the driver gunned it."
Workplace harassment, gunshots, arson: What happened at Fire Station 81?
LA Times, BRITTNY MEJIA: "The firefighter lay bleeding at the remote station in Agua Dulce. He’d been shot several times, once through the neck.
Tory Carlon moaned in pain. His assailant — a fellow firefighter at Fire Station 81— kept a semi-automatic handgun trained on the 44-year-old sprawled in the engine bay."
More than 100 vacant, government-owned parcels in L.A. could be used for housing, study finds
LA Times, DOUG SMITH: "On Google Earth it looks like a stunning opportunity: six acres of vacant land surrounded by single-family homes in a West Valley neighborhood.
After being abandoned to shoulder-high weeds for nearly a decade, the former elementary school site in Woodland Hills is now a target for development."
White House snaps back after Fox News calls President Biden ‘wannabe dictator’
LA Times, STEPHEN BATTAGLIO: "If you think Fox News is moderating its tone since paying $787.5 million to settle a landmark defamation suit, think again.
The Rupert Murdoch-controlled conservative news network ran an extraordinary graphic Tuesday under a double box showing images of President Biden and former President Trump; the latter was criminally charged in Miami on 37 counts related to mishandling of classified documents."
Supreme Court preserves law that aims to keep Native American children with tribal families
AP, MARK SHERMAN: "The Supreme Court on Thursday preserved the system that gives preference to Native American families in foster care and adoption proceedings of Native children, rejecting a broad attack from Republican-led states and white families who argued it is based on race.
The court left in place the 1978 Indian Child Welfare Act, which was enacted to address concerns that Native children were being separated from their families and, too frequently, placed in non-Native homes."
